Dolphins ‘call each other by name’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23410137

Scientists have found further evidence that dolphins call each other by “name”.

Research has revealed that the marine mammals use a unique whistle to identify each other.

A team from the University of St Andrews in Scotland found that when the animals hear their own call played back to them, they respond.

more…

Apparently, so do parrots.

Fliiiiiiiper!

morrie said:

Fliiiiiiiper!

Damm you, morrie, I had dibs on that.

“A team from the University of St Andrews in Scotland found that when the animals hear their own call played back to them, they respond. “

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Wow. Just like my pets.

19 shillings said:

“A team from the University of St Andrews in Scotland found that when the animals hear their own call played back to them, they respond. “

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Wow. Just like my pets.

That’s really good observation 19 Shillings, you should consider joining their team, I’m sure with that observation they will see you as a colleague

:)

CrazyNeutrino said:

19 shillings said:

“A team from the University of St Andrews in Scotland found that when the animals hear their own call played back to them, they respond. “

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Wow. Just like my pets.

That’s really good observation 19 Shillings, you should consider joining their team, I’m sure with that observation they will see you as a colleague

:)

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I wonder what they think at seaworld..

CrazyNeutrino said:

I wonder what they think at seaworld..

probably “glad we aren’t kept on anti-depressants like they do the Orca’s here, hey click-squeak…… !!!? that kid’s parents should be slapped!”

Critical analysis at Language Log:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=5453

The very description in the article of what happens when a dolphin hears their own signature whistle reveals that signature whistles do not function anything like names. It sounds analogous to a study of dog behavior finding that if you play Fido a recording of his own bark, he will bark.

I think LL is a bit harsh, Martin B.

“The researchers found that individuals only responded to their own calls, by sounding their whistle back.”

SO it would be more akin to finding that when you play back a recording of Dog A’s bark, only Dog A barks, and when you play back another dog’s bark, dog A does not bark.

Which would be rather undoglike behaviour.

The intro, however, is reasonable.
“As we have frequently noted here on Language Log, science stories on the BBC News website are (how to put this politely?) not always of prize-winning standard with respect to originality, timeliness, reliability, or attention to the relevant literature. In fact some of them show signs of being written by kids in junior high school.”

The dog bit is perhaps a trifle polemical.

The main point that ‘signature whistles’ (however interesting they may be) do not function in the same way as human names (and hence it is a bit silly to claim that they do) appears to be sound.

Mind you I haven’t read the actual PNAS paper.

MartinB said:

Mind you I haven’t read the actual PNAS paper.

can you download it?
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/07/17/1304459110

http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/280/1757/20130053.full

If not, this may be a better guide than the Beeb article
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/02/dolphin-names/

The King and Janik have a few publications on signature whistles, which they refer to as individually distinctive signature whistles and which they consider are used as learned vocal labels (not “names”).

MartinB said:

The main point that ‘signature whistles’ (however interesting they may be) do not function in the same way as human names (and hence it is a bit silly to claim that they do) appears to be sound.

It’s hotly debated among ethologists if these individually specific learned vocal labels are analogous to ‘names’ or are just group identifiers / group calls (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982206018203?np=y/). Signature whistles (learned from an early age and used for group cohesion) have been noted in different species of cetaceans for a coupla decades now so there’s oodles of publications to peruse, if you like. Two most recent studies by the authors have been concluded by the authors to suggest that they are indeed unique individual identifiers (as opposed to group identifiers), used as labels for others in the groups, and the behavioural pattern is recognition of one’s own signature being whistled, subsequently recognising it as one’s own signature whistle and responding with a ‘it’s me, (insert my signature whistle here)” – all of which hasn’t been noted in other animals. The two most recent publications are an advance in that have managed to plough a decadal time scale database of records and do some of the experimental work as suggested in 2006.

Not for 6 months I can’t download it (for free), no. :-)

The key issue (as I see it) is whether a signature whistle is used by other individuals deliberately to address the individual whose signature it is. If this happens as you say then well enough. But this is not claimed (and indeed seems to be denied) by the abstract of the PNAS article.

So in real life, are there any animals apart from humans that call each other by name?

>>The main point that ‘signature whistles’ (however interesting they may be) do not function in the same way as human names (and hence it is a bit silly to claim that they do) appears to be sound”

Got that nuanced grunt.

:)

No eloquence about dolphin vernacular.

I’d like to know if dolphins have a sense of “I”.

I’d like to know if dolphins have a sense of “I”.
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Well they have passed the ‘Mirror Test’